new york | A Grave Concern

Posts Tagged ‘new york’

Henry Rogers Selden

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged famous graves, feminism, feminist, mount hope cemetery, new york, occupation, rochester, suffrage, suffragist on October 5, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Henry Rogers Selden was a lawyer, judge and politician, serving in such positions as Lieutenant Governor of New York. But the reason I photographed his grave marker is that Selden defended Susan B. Anthony in 1873. Anthony and a number of her fellow suffragists decided to test the constitutionality of denying women the right to vote, and Anthony presented her research and arguments to Selden. He found them compelling and told her that he thought she had a right to vote. She voted in the national election of 1872 and was arrested for illegal voting. Selden defended her during the case pro bono, and was extremely disappointed at her conviction.

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Helen Pitts Douglass

Posted in Dead Men Do Tell Tales, tagged abolitionist, famous graves, famous women, feminism, feminist, mount hope cemetery, new york, rochester, suffragist on October 4, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Helen Pitts Douglass was the 2nd wife of Frederick Douglass. Douglass’ first wife, Anna Murray, died in 1882 after over 40 years of marriage. Helen Pitts, an advocate for women’s rights and a graduate of Mount Holyoke Seminary, met Douglass when he hired her as a clerk. After his first wife’s death, he married the white woman who was 20 years his junior, their interracial marriage exposing tensions with long time friends and colleagues. After Frederick Douglass’ death in 1895, his widow dedicated herself to the creation of the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association.

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Alphas and Omegas

Posted in Cemetery Sculpture, Symbolism, tagged alpha and omega, buffalo, cleveland, forest lawn cemetery, grave art, lake view cemetery, new york, ohio, sculpture, symbolism on December 20, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Recently, I wrote about the Christian symbolism associated with the combination of the Greek letters alpha and omega. I’ve found even more photos that include this and wanted to share them with you.

The Holley family in Lake View Cemetery has them intertwined.

The Smiths of Forest Lawn Cemetery included the alpha and the omega symbols on their marker.

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Doyle Wordless Wednesday

Posted in Dead Men Do Tell Tales, tagged buffalo, cenotaph, cenotaphs, new york, occupation, trinity church, wordless wednesday on November 21, 2012| 1 Comment »

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Baptismal font

Posted in Graveless memorials, tagged babies, buffalo, cenotaph, cenotaphs, child, children, new york, trinity church on November 18, 2012| 1 Comment »

Nearly everything in Trinity Church had a memorial plaque or inscription on it. Unsurprisingly, the baptismal font is dedicated to a little girl who died young. I wonder what it felt like for the parents of Mary Rochester to watch babies be baptized in the font with their daughter’s name on it.

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Ingersoll Wordless Wednesday

Posted in Dead Men Do Tell Tales, tagged buffalo, clergy, cross, euphemisms for death, forest lawn cemetery, grave art, ihs, new york, occupation, tombstone tales, wordless wednesday on July 25, 2012| Leave a Comment »

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Translated

Posted in Morbid Musings, tagged buffalo, clergy, euphemisms for death, forest lawn cemetery, new york, occupation on July 24, 2012| Leave a Comment »

This is the first time I have seen “translated” used as a euphemism for death. It communicates a belief in death as simply a step rather than a final thing.

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Hints of the past

Posted in Cemetery Sculpture, Symbolism, tagged anchor, astrolabe, buffalo, forest lawn cemetery, grave art, new york, sculpture, symbolism, tombstone tales on July 23, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Walter Norton’s monument doesn’t state his occupation, but I’m going to guess that he was a sailor, possibly specifically a captain or navigator, since he has both an anchor and an astrolabe on his monument.